Professional Standards Update: August 2021
WORKSHOPS
COVID restrictions unfortunately resulted in the postponement of workshops at Unley, Tumby Bay, Glynde and Bordertown. Our thanks to hosts and the effort put into organising those workshops. Our thanks and apologies to those who had registered. But more importantly, our prayers are for those who were directly impacted by the latest outbreaks both in SA and other states.
Workshop dates, COVID permitting, have been listed below for August and September. Please remember that all Safe Church training is now available as face-to-face workshops or self-paced online training.
Below are the rescheduled workshops available in August and September. To register for any of these training sessions, please visit www.lca.org.au/psd-training
Safe Church Level 1 Workshops (full course)
Tumby Bay
Sunday 15 August, 10:00am until 5:00pm
Unley
Sunday 29 August, 12:00pm until 7:00pm
Gawler
Saturday 18 September, 9:00am until 4:00pm
Safe Church Level 1 Refresher
Salisbury
Saturday 3 July, 9:30am until 1:00pm
Safe Church Level 2 Training is now available as both
· a face-to-face workshop – no sessions planned at the moment, please email us to register interest
or
· self-paced online training – please register online by clicking here
LCA CHILD SAFETY STANDARDS UPDATE
It is important that our Church embraces the proposed LCA Child Safety Standards within our congregations given that the child safety regulatory landscape in Australia is changing – most jurisdictions have either already implemented a new regulatory framework for child safety compliance or have indicated their intention to do so in the near future. This is new ground for churches and presents new challenges for our congregations in relation to child safety proactivity, compliance and reporting.
Of greater importance, implementation of the proposed standards has the potential to yield great benefits – not only in terms of the safety and well-being of our children and young people, but also in relation to growing our congregations, in connecting with our children and their families, and in helping us to further strengthen our already well-established child safety commitments.
Targeted consultation in relation to the draft standards is well underway, producing some robust and constructive discussions which have already generated many constructive suggestions for improvement.
A small number of congregations are trialling the self-assessment process in SA and will soon progress to the development of congregational child safety plans. It is anticipated that the consultation and trial will help us to gain a realistic picture of the implementation process, in terms of practicalities, constraints, timeframes and workload. Participants in the trial have also been able to identify areas for improvement and have already provided us with many helpful suggestions.. A big thank you to those who have contributed to the consultations to date or who are participating in the trial.
It is intended that the consultations and the trial will be completed by the end of August and all analysis by mid-October. A final version of the standards incorporating all learnings will then be submitted to the General Church Board for consideration and approval in October.
Pending GCB approval, it is intended that implementation of the LCA Child Safety Standards for Congregations will commence in early 2022.
If you have any queries about the consultation or the proposed standards, please contact either Dave Biar, Professional Standards Officer or myself. We are very happy to answer any queries you might have.
Mary-Ann Carver
LCA Child Protection Project Officer, mary-ann.carver@lca.org.au
Based in the churchwide office, 197 Archer St North Adelaide, SA
Ph: 08 8267 7300 or 0490 281 727
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